From our wonderful trainer Kendra, in Houston. She is training with Ronnie, a Wounded Warrior with PTSD and TBI, and his SDIT, Roxy!
“We met at Target and practiced a mock Public Access Test. Roxy did perfect! We also practiced walking behind a cart, and they will continue working on that.
At our next met we will have the official Public Access Test. In the picture is Roxy in a dressing room; she goes right under the chair. She is going to rock the exam!”
WAY TO GO RONNIE, ROXY, AND KENDRA!!!!
From our trainer, Candace, in Fort Worth, who is working with the Morrison family. They have a very unique and special situation. Sean is a Wounded Warrior with PTSD, and they adopted a 3 – legged German Shepard. They were curious if her disability would disqualify her as a Service Dog. They will be looking at getting her a prosthetic leg as she was born missing her leg at the elbow, and has enough left for a prosthetic. The veterinarian said that she would be just fine as a Service Dog! She has the perfect temperament and trainability.
As a PTSD, service-related Marine, Sean struggles with thunderstorms, loud, sudden noises, and going out in public in general. The family were told by his psychologist that a service dog would help him greatly, and after looking into it and doing hours of research, they believed this would be most beneficial for him. It has been!! What a remarkable family they are to adopt this highly intelligent dog, and to do everything necessary to ensure that being a Service Dog will be healthy and productive for both the dog and Sean. They will constantly be reviewing progress with their veterinarian.
“I would like to introduce the newest member of the Service Dog Express family: The Morrison Clan. Yep, that’s right, Sean’s SDIT was born with just 3 legs! But, according to Sean, she is everything he needs. She will look around corners for him as they go down halls. She always remains on alert wherever they are. She passed her assessment with flying colors! The next step is working on their SDIT’s endurance and basic training. So far, she responds very well to Sean, and I think they will be a remarkable team.”
From our trainer Candace, in Fort Worth. She is working with 7 1/2 year-old Marcus, who suffers from PTSD, night terrors, and extreme anxiety at such a young age. Heather, Marcus’s mother, says that Duke is such a good friend for Marcus son, Marcus. Heather says that Marcus, who was adopted at age 4 1/2, is a bright, compassionate, energetic young man who is being limited by the ghosts of his past. She loves him so much, citing that “I am in awe at the resilience he shows in just getting up and facing the day every morning. He always asks for me to stay with him at night and he says he wishes his dog (an adopted chiweenie) was bigger and could watch over him at night.” What a beautifully supportive family dear Marcus has!
“Marcus’ family is doing a wonderful job with their son’s SDiT, “Duke”. Duke miraculously keeps up with young Marcus, as he is so active and upbeat! We worked on proper leash walking. Heather did most of the walking, showing Marcus how to go about properly himself. Marcus is doing a great job as well, minding his mother and doing his best to work with Duke. We also played a game where Marcus hid under his covers and Duke jumped up to find him. This will help when Marcus has his nightmares and Duke needs to comfort him. Other than that, the family is working on basic training like “come,” “stay,” and “leave it.” Duke is doing very well, and picking up on things quickly. The challenge will be to transfer those training skills over to Marcus and having Duke mind him. This will take time, patience and consistency on the Wilson’s part, especially for Heather. So far, she is remarkable. Keep up the great work!”
REMARKABLE, INDEED. WE ALL LOVE YOU, DEAR MARCUS!!!!
From our trainer in Austin! HAGGER THE HUMUNGOUS HAS PASSED!!!!
“I am happy to announce that Lee and Hagger have passed the Public Access Test! We met at Walmart this morning and took a nice stroll with Hagger heeling beside Lee the whole time. Lee took Hagger through some tight quarters and narrow turns and Hagger fit right in!
Hagger does sits and downs on commands just once. He has great stays as well with a shopping cart going by him!
We headed to Subway to eat and settle while Lee and I talked for a bit, Hagger made himself at home on the floor!
Lee has worked and trained Hagger TIRELESSLY to get him ready and he has been more than successful!
I am so happy for those two!”
LEE AND HAGGER, EVERYONE AT SERVICE DOG EXPRESS IS SO, SO VERY PROUD AND INSPIRED BY YOU BOTH – YOUR DETERMINATION, YOUR COURAGE, AND YOUR DEDICATION. THE WORLD IS TRULY BLESSED TO HAVE YOU BOTH IN IT! AND TO OUR TRAINER – WONDERFUL JOB!!!
An update from trainer Beverly, who is working with Wounded Warrior DJ, and his SDIT, Tabitha!
“At this session, we practiced previous skills of heel, wait, sit, down and leave it. We added more distractions at Lowes, and Tabitha did very well at focusing on DJ and doing what she was asked to do. I showed DJ how to work with Tabitha on her restaurant skills and Tabitha did very well staying under the table while we discussed his “homework for the week” for about 20 mins. Tabitha knew when DJ’s anxiety was increasing and climbed up to give a hug!
The plan for the next session is a weekend intensive session to work on any remaining issues, and to practice her PAT skills to see what remains to be addressed.”
WHAT AMAZING PICTURES BEVERLY PROVIDED SHOWING TABITHA IN AN OFF-LEASH SIT/STAY, DOWN/STAY, DOWNING UNDER THE TABLE, AND GIVING “IT’S OK, DAD” HUGS!!
From our trainer Beverly, who is working with Hope, a Wounded Warrior who suffers from PTSD, Major Depressive Disorder, Fibromyalgia and asthma, and her SDIT, Brooklyn.
“We met at the dog park in Selma so I could not only assess how the dog (Brooklyn) acted with people, but around a noisy environment and other dogs. Brooklyn was appropriate although she still has some puppy behaviors since she is young (about 6 mos) but is calm and not fazed by anything I did with her.
I discussed training and procedures with Hope and at the end of the session even showed her how to begin working on “sit” with Brooklyn (who picked it up right away.) We plan to meet next week to begin her formal training. At the retail pet store there at Bluebonnet Bunk n Biscuit, where we were at, I showed her the different training collars and we discussed the pros and cons of each. Hope is excited to start this journey with Brooklyn and I think they’ll make a great SD Team”
From our trainer in Austin, who is working with Meghan, who suffers from PTSD, severe anxiety/depression, and fibromyalgia, and her SDIT, Precious.
“I had a session with Meghan and Precious at Petsmart yesterday and it went really well! I had not seen her in three weeks and could see the progress of Precious’ eye contact and heeling. His heeling is so GOOD!
The major thing we focused on was Precious’ excitement when he sees other dogs. When he sees another dog, he starts to whine and then starts barking because he can’t go to them.
We tried working the “look at that” technique by treating him before he reacts when he sees another dog and bringing his engagement back to Meghan.
I suggested that he needs more exposure around dogs while on leash out in public. Our next few sessions, our goal is to go to Townlake where all the dogs are on the trail and desensitize Precious to dogs around him.”
From our trainer in Austin, who evaluated an SDIT, “Guzzo”, for client Amy, who suffers from fibromyalgia, depresssion and PTSD. Amy wanted to be sure that “Guzzo” was up for the challenge of being a Service Dog!
“I evaluated Amy’s 1 1/2 year old black lab/ old English bulldog mix, Guzzo. He is such a sweetheart. He is very dog-friendly and people- friendly. He knows the commands, sit, down and stay. The key thing I saw that he needs major work on is exposure to public places and settling down around busy areas.
Amy is a nice woman who was doubtful about Guzzo being a potential Service Dog because she felt she had been slacking in the training – but I reassured her she was on the right path! She was pleased to hear that Guzzo is made for her!”
“For this session, we went over some basic obedience like “down/stay” and “sit/stay”. We talked about the importance of speaking the word, then making the gesture, then immediately rewarding the proper execution of the command. I played a relationship game with her called restrained recall. This is the act of the dog learning to come quickly and enthusiastically to the handler once she has been released by the helper. Kensi seemed to get it right away, but only strolled up to Carol. I can see with practice that Kensi will build drive for this exercise and become more enthusiastic as the repetitions progress. I showed Carol the “cover” maneuver, and she seemed understand, but has a little trouble with reaching around and luring the dog behind her. I gave her some tips on how to ease that a little and we will see how Kensi is taking to “cover” next week.”
From our trainer Andrew, who is working with Wounded Warrior Amber, who suffers from PTSD, Major Depression, General Anxiety Disorder, cervical strain, lumbar Degenerative Disc Disease, Right Knee meniscus tear, and hearing loss, and her SDIT, “Brinn”.
“On September 22nd, 2014, I had my first session with Amber and Brinn. We mainly talked about the expected capabilities of her Service Dog in Training, what she has already worked on with Brinn, and what help she needs from Brinn the most. Brinn already knows a plethora of commands, as Amber has been working with her daily for the month that she has had her. She knows basic obedience such as sit, down, come, wait, leave it, load, unload, and already how to “cover”. What Brinn needs is reinforcement, so we focused on that. Brinn does have a problem pulling on the leash when she has on a normal nylon collar, so I showed Amber a technique for loose leash walking. Amber has begun working with Brinn on it already.
Amber’s family is also fostering a dog named Wendy and, together they both are not good at focusing on the commands as they want to play instead of listen. Wendy is more versed than Brinn is and responds better than Brinn to the commands when she is alone with a handler. We discussed working with them and scheduling times to teach the more difficult commands.
All in all, we had a good session. I was only needed to instruct them on reinforcement of the commands that Amber has already been working hard to teach Brinn and we will continue to do so in future sessions.”